The hottest MMOs and betas of 2013

It's only the beginning of February, but 2013 is already shaping to be a big year for MMO fans, with several studios gearing up for launch with plenty of beta trials available to the public. Here is a list of some of the more intriguing games currently in beta and coming our way later this year.

FireFall

Firefall is Red 5 studio’s introduction to the MMO world, and an attempt to mix MMORPG’s with MMOFPS’s. The game is a first person shooter/third person shooter game, set in a post-apocalyptic earth, where an asteroid has crashed into the planet. The survivors are initially plummeted back into a dark age, but recover enough to discover the astroid contains the resourced needed to build space ships and access interstellar travel.

The graphics of Firefall bear a similarity to Team Fortress 2 and Brink combined with the landscapes of Halo in some areas, with open world PvP along with some PvE its focus.

To receive a beta invite, players have to submit their email address and register on the official Firefall website. An alternate beta access is given to those who spend the extra money for one of their limited edition founding member packages, which grants ‘founder status’ along with extra freebies in-game, AND to top it all off, you will receive instant access to Beta testing.

Defiance

Imagine you are playing Rift one day, and then all of a sudden, the screen freezes. When your screen resets itself, the area of Rift you see is more depressing. You find yourself with guns instead of bows and swords, and that pissed off Orc that you shot with a bow has suddenly transformed into a pissed off alien. That is the broad summary of Defiance.

Defiance is made by the same team behind Rift, and there are obvious similarities that are clear, such as ‘Arkfalls’ which behave similarly to the rifts in Rift. Customization in the game is as in-depth and there is a huge amount of abilities and weapons to choose from. Although people can download the game client, beta invites are limited at the moment to stress testing on certain days, but keep your eyes peeled on this intriguing title.

Elder Scrolls Online

The only upcoming MMO that may be capable of challenging World of Warcraft in size and scope, The Elder Scrolls Online will, according to its developers, allow players to traverse all the vast lands of Tamriel on one massive big server.

Beta invites have yet to be given out, but recently, Bethesda has opened up applications for players sign up, though they must state why they should be allowed to play in the beta stage. If you're interested in joining the beta, simply register your details at ElderScrollsOnline.com.

After submitting a form, players will be able to see that this is a serious deal with Bethesda, but then again, this is a game that has a large number of expectations to fill.